 Moving operations have one thing in common. They don't take much time in one spot, usually less than a day. As far as the public is concerned, you're gone before most people realize you've even been there. That's not so bad considering that your exposure to traffic isn't very long, but there are a couple of hitches. The fact that you're there at all is going to surprise the few drivers that do come your way, and it only takes one to mess up your life. The other hitch is that your traffic control needs to be portable. That means you're not going to have the protection like you'd have on bigger, longer jobs. But every situation is different, so we're going to look at some typical moving operations, going from the least dangerous to the most dangerous. Probably the least dangerous moving operation is the one that has the most accidents associated with it. Luckily, you're going to have the protection of a heavy vehicle moving along with the traffic. Snow removal is different than any other kind of moving operation. Instead of working when the weather and conditions are good, you're going out there at the worst possible time of the year and in the worst possible weather. That's why, in addition to your normal checkout procedures, you have to make doubly sure everything's working right. Visibility is your biggest concern. Windows and mirrors need to be kept clear, both on the inside from fog and on the outside from snow. And it's especially important that others can see you. You're not going to be working under static traffic control with sandbag signs warning everyone you're out there. You're carrying your own traffic control. That's why all your lights need to be working. You need to be visible from a good distance, especially in bad weather. That's why everything should be working before you leave the shop. You don't ever want to get caught unprepared in a blizzard. At night, visibility for you and for other drivers is even more important. You need to keep your eyes on the road. That means you should be able to find and operate all your controls by touch. When you're taking up more than your lane trying to uncover the centerline, you're not giving other traffic much room to pass. If a big rig is coming up on you, you just might consider giving it some room. If you do change course, make sure you don't go too far in the opposite direction and hit something on the other side. Like the night, snow cover also makes things hard to see, like curbs and islands. Anything you can't see is real easy to hit if you don't know where it is. The only way to know where it is is to memorize its location before the snow falls. It's too late to do that now. You're operating under a lot of pressure. You're in a big rig that's hard to control. With a wing, you're wider than a full lane. It takes you longer to stop, and it takes a lot of room to turn around. You don't want to back up either because, like in most trucks, you can't see very well behind you, and you're not going to have a spotter to guide you. Putting that truck in reverse is asking for real trouble. In addition to just doing your job, you're going to be dealing with traffic too. They're going to be speeding to get home and out of the weather. Your driving can be real frustrating to some. Everyone's following you, sometimes blindly, sometimes too closely. All the more reason you need to be alert to what's going on around you. All these examples assume you're going to have the right traffic control setup, and that it's working as it should. Other than traffic control, one of the most important safety factors is whether or not you're in a vehicle. Vehicles offer you some measure of protection. You're surrounded by a lot of heavy steel. You're big enough to be seen from a distance, and you're moving in the direction of traffic, although not as fast. Your large size and movement may give fast-moving traffic a few extra seconds to react before they're on top of you. If you get out of your vehicle, however, you lose all these safety features. You lose the protection of your vehicle and the safety of your motion. If there's no traffic control, you lose a lot of your early warning too. Your main protection now is you. Your eyes and your ears and whatever bright clothing you might be wearing that might be seen at a distance. Hopefully, you won't be out there very long, but that's up to you too. It's never a good idea to travel opposite to the flow of traffic, but sometimes you have no choice. Here, there's no escape route. Your only protection is your traffic control and the fact that you're in a heavy vehicle. But if an approaching driver makes an error in judgment, you're the one that's going to pay for it. As you can see, how close you are to traffic is very important, but it's not the only safety consideration. You can be in a vehicle and well off the road and still be in a dangerous situation. Steep slopes can turn you over before you know it. Roll bars and seatbelts are musts on any kind of steep terrain. When you're on foot and off the road, your exposure to traffic may be limited and that's good. But for short periods, you might be pretty close to traffic if not on the road itself. In these cases, you're at the mercy of the traffic. They're not expecting you to be there, nor are you big enough to be easily seen at a distance. If you're not paying attention to where you are, you're going to be like a sitting duck. If you're on the wrong side of a guardrail, you just might get trapped. Speaking of guardrails, if you're working for a longer time with a larger crew, you're getting into a more dangerous situation where you'll need to close off a lane. If you're replacing a guardrail that's been damaged by vehicles hitting it, think about that for a second. If they hit it once, do you think they'll probably hit it again? Maybe when you're out there, don't forget, if you're on foot, there's no escape route except back into traffic. When you move out into the traffic lane itself, you're moving into a much more dangerous area because this is where drivers usually drive and they're expecting to have a clear path ahead of them. This is where flaggers and other traffic control become so important. If you're on foot, working near the center line, you have little physical protection because a temporary barricade or cone isn't going to stop a vehicle from entering your work area. So you've got to keep your mind on where you're at. From here on in, the longer you're on that road surface, the greater your chances of getting hit. Once again, you're the sitting duck. When you add more equipment to the work zone, you're adding even more hazard to an already dangerous situation because now you have to worry about your own traffic coming inside the work zone. Your traffic controls won't work for you in here and trucks and big equipment operators can't see much around them. Plus, it's hot, it's noisy, and it's dusty. All distractions that keep you from thinking about where you are and what you're doing. Patching is a big job. You're going to be out there over a long period with a bigger crew, more operations, and more equipment moving around you all crammed into that same narrow lane. Plus, you have the noise, the dust, and the pressure cooker job of getting it done on time so you can get out of there before nightfall. This is where a pilot car that's physically controlling the speed of traffic makes the situation a lot safer for you. But on an interstate or four lane, the traffic speed is not controlled. You might have a slow paddle, but it's like asking a charging bull to slow down. A sleeper could enter your work zone and be on top of you before you know it. The two maintenance workers who were killed in this accident probably didn't have a second to get out of the way of this semi when it barreled in. They probably never saw it coming. The only way traffic on the interstate is going to slow down is if there's too much of it and it starts to back up on itself. That reduces speeds in the work zone, but it only pushes the danger of an accident back up the line where traffic is still coming at a good clip. Back in your work area, you're not so safe either. As the traffic count rises, so do tempers. Frustrated and angry drivers can be very unpredictable and dangerous. Ultimately, your best protection is yourself. Your eyes and your ears and your common sense about what could happen in any given situation. Checking out the situation doesn't take long. Every so often, just a glance or two over your shoulder to remind yourself of what's going on. Check out how close you are to traffic. What is its speed? What is its visibility and being able to spot you from a distance? What kind of physical protection do you have separating you from equipment and traffic? If everyone just keeps an eye peeled every once in a while, then sometime, someone just might be watching to give you that extra few seconds warning that could save your life. The more you're aware of what's going on around you, the greater your chances are of not being a sitting duck.